Environmental benefits
Timber framing is the ultimate renewable – in Australia, we replant more than 70 million trees every year. And our softwood plantations grow the volume of timber framing needed to build the average home in two and a half minutes.
In addition to being a renewable resource, timber also removes and stores greenhouse gases from the air. Approximately half the dry weight of timber is made up of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere as the tree grew. Using timber in buildings stores that carbon for as long as the timber exists.
The energy needed to convert trees into timber for timber framing is considerably less than the energy needed to produce other building materials.
Economic benefits
The Australian timber framing industry provides jobs and opportunities for more than 45,000 local people in a wide variety of occupations including forestry, sawmills, preservative suppliers, nail plate manufacturers, wholesalers, carpenters and tradies.
The industry contributes around $24bn a year to the Australian economy, both directly through sales and indirectly through jobs and related industries.